Imperial clan of Bearborn
The Imperial clan of Bearborn is the current ruling Imperial household of the Mirkuleon Empire and it is the cheiftaincy clan of Elderhold. It has been the most influential clan throughout mirkuleon history, from its hand in creating the first mirkuleon Empire to the revival of the Empire as the second mirkuleon empire and the Imperial schism and the third mirkuleon Empire. The clan was founded by Herak the Bear hundreds of thousands of years ago, roughly two hundred thousand years. The name of the clan comes from the legend that Herak was able to ride a bear and use mind control on bears. Herak's great grandson Qosmar created the practise of allowing the sons of concubines to inherit titles. This caused infighting among the clan as the sons of Qosmar's concubines conspired together to divide up the Bearborn lands. However he would go onto have a leading role in the Clan confederacy during the Eternal Wars whilst his son would play key role in its military evantually defeated the last Udroin kingdoms in what is now the Victory lands in northern Yaladar. Kevousalar also prevented the concubine sons from taking power by ma Principal roles and titles. Emperor of Mirkuleons The clan holds the Imperial throne ever since Kevousalar the Great and the first mirkuleon civil war, the title was taken by the clan of wolfborn during this time. The only other times the Bearborns did not hold the titles was during the reign of the Eagleborns after the war of Mirkuleon succession and the warring state period when the Mirkuleon empire broke into warring states. Cheiftain of Elderhold The clan since its greatest cheiftain Freshkiour has been the cheiftain of Elderhold after being granted the title by the founder of the clan of Eagleborn of Qatsar. King of Elderhold The clan became the de facto king of elderhold during the warring states period although it retained the de jure title of Emperor of Mirkuleons history First era The Bearborn clan was started by Herak the Bear and his eight brothers after they had fought has vassal knights for the clan of Eagleborn, the victory over the clan of ravenborn by the hand of Herak ensured that Elderhold was granted to him by Qatsar who was cheiftain of the hawklands and the head of the clan eagleborn. Herak formed one of the first official standing army rather than an army made up of mercenaries and feudal knights and peasant conscripts. The knights and war cheifs were given the role of officers and peasant and burgher volunteers and conscripts were trained as professional soldiers. Freshkiour, the grandson of Herak became the first official cheiftain of Elderhold after its war of indepedence against the hold of the Hawklands. The Bearborn army managed to defeat the Eagleborn army after a fourty decade war against their Eagleborn overlords. The Eternal wars which were a series of conflicts which were in line with the evolution of the Mirkuleons and the Udroins which lasted for over millions of years starting from their very early stages of civilisation as hunter gathers, it ended with Kevousalar the great great grandson of Herak the Bear defeating the Udroins in their capital of Nazchar in the Yaladar pennisula. Kevousalar was elected by the clan confederacy to become Emperor of mirkuleons. However the wolfborn clan took power as their seat of power was the darkmountains where the Mirkuleon capital of white mountain is located. The Wolfborn army defeated the Bearborn Imperial guard during the battle of white mountain, Kevousalar fleed whilst Auchadratioke became Emperor. This started the Mirkuleon civil war between the two clans and their allies, this ended with second battle of white mountain which saw a Bearborn victory and the extinction of the Wolfborn clan. Kevousalar was crowned Emperor again, Kevousalar died centuries later during the Mirkuleon-elven wars. Second era The Bearborn clan having sercured its place, it used the Mirkuleon Imperial legions to expand its territories in the central lands southwards to territories held by various human tribes and cultures which were enslaved by the Mirkuleons, the mirkuleons went as far south as the Agotomon empire however the Agomoton humans having similar levels of technology as the Mirkuleons defeated them, the Bearborns made an alliance with the agomoton imperial household Asi-qad, through granting the Agomotons rights to all territory south of the river of Tasiqar in support for the mirkuleons laying claim to all territory north of the river. The Bearborn Emperor Kevousalar II died during the war against the Freemen whom were led by their first king, Aundar the Great. Third era The Bearborns ruled the Mirkuleon Empire and they expanded their territory into the central lands, during this time various humans in central lands formed their own nation states which evolved from fortress cities and castles which were constructed to prevent Mirkuleon expansion. However the Mirkuleons were able to conquer the central lands with the usage of gun powder which they used to destroy the great walled cities. Heraldry The symbol of the Bearborn clan was the Great Bear native to Elderhold, the Bear went almist extnict around the time of Kevousalar III due to its large size it could not maintain its diet. Kevousalar III kept a family of these great bears as his pets and would take great bears to add to this family. However he ran out of bears to breed leading them to inbreed amongst themselves which resulted in diminshed mental capicity and stunted growth. The reason for the bear being the symbol of the clan was that Herak the founder of clan bearborn tamed a bear and would use to terrorise villages of rival clans enslaving them as vassals to the Bearborns. Herak's son Freshkiour gave the bears protected service and made to it punishable by crucifixtion and impalement even for farmers whom live stock was being killed by the Bears were still punished. However the Bearborns themselves killed and sacrificed Bears as part of their ancestory worship. Bearborn Cheiftains Vassal houses The Bearborn's being a high noble clan had various vassal clans beneath them, the Bearborns were the cheiftains of Elderhold, one of the holds of the Mirkuleon Empire which was broken down into various counties each governed by different clans whom were all vassals to the Bearborns. The Bearborn clan itself was formed up of fourty out of one hundred of these vassal clans whilst the remaining sixty were non Bearborn families. The Bearborn clan was intially led by the Bashaq family which traced their lineage back to Herak the Bear as his direct decedents however the Bashaqs were extinct since the death of Kevousalar IV. The new line of the dynasty the Kaqaqaor family took the title of cheiftain within their clan after the Dwarven crisis of the sixth era and the fall of the First Mirkuleon Empire. The Bearborns were related to both the Wolfborns through the marriage of the Wolfborn Margrave Saendmurk to Marchioness Verrata of clan Bearborn, their only surviving child was their only daughter who took of her father and thus she become Marchioness of Xoogaqh. She went on to marry Qosmar and thus become Kevousalar I's mother. Kevousalar I was second cousin to Auchadratiokie. The Clan were also close allies to the Eagleborns through various marriage alliances, often to avoid marrying less clans and or inbreeding amongst themselves Bearborns would marry Eagleborns however after tens of thousands of years this led to similar effects as inbreeding although they were not that serious